Small business marketplace lender Bizfi.com has announced a new milestone; cumulative originations reached $2 billion in December; firm offers direct loans and provides a range of financing solutions for US small businesses including loans from alternative lenders and the Small Business Administration; platform has over 45 funding partners. Source
The Association of Alternative Business Finance is rumored to be the alternative lending sector's next representative association; the consortium has reportedly been developed by seven balance sheet lenders to represent the interests of their lending group; the association will seek to employ and enhance transparency, responsibility, fairness and security; its criteria for inclusion is primarily focused on business product lending. Source
Biz2Credit has released its monthly Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index report which provides approval rates on small business loans; large lenders increased approval rates while alternative and credit union lenders reported decreases; big banks reported an approval rate of 23.9% in December, an increase of 0.02% from November and 1% from December 2015; the small bank approval rate increased to 48.9% and the institutional lenders approval rate increased to 63.4%; alternative lending approval rates decreased to 58.6% and the approval rate from credit unions decreased to 40.9%. Source
Citigroup has a new small business loan offering offered through a branded partnership with Biz2Credit; the partnership follows new small business offerings from JPMorgan and Wells Fargo; Rohit Arora from Biz2Credit said the partnership has not been widely publicized because it is in very early stages; small business lenders use a website interface managed by Biz2Credit that submits their information to a Citigroup banker for follow up; Arora also said the new small business loan offering is part of the bank's Community Reinvestment Act obligations. Source
The Fed made one increase to the federal funds rate in December 2016 and economic market activity appears to be improving with the election of President-Elect Donald Trump; Rohit Arora of Biz2Credit says the outlook is optimistic for small business owners in 2017; with only one rate increase, borrowing rates are still low for small business owners and lenders are approving a higher percentage of loans; Donald Trump's plans to alleviate some of the burdens from Dodd-Frank on banks is also likely to help approval rates for small business owners. Source
Rohit Arora of Biz2Credit outlines three fintech trends affecting small business lending; highlights artificial intelligence, convergence in marketplace lending and bank partnerships and financial inclusion initiatives for underserved banking consumers; Arora also says market conditions are positive for small business lenders with new job creation measures and technological advances broadly across the financial industry. Source
Italian invoice trading platform Workinvoice has packaged 5 million euros ($5.31 million) worth of receivables financed through its platform in a securitization vehicle; the receivables portfolio was purchased by Italian portfolio manager Factor@Work; the securitization deal represents a new source of capital interest for the invoice receivables market. Source
ApplePie Capital has built a dynamic marketplace lending platform with a range of high net worth and institutional investors focused on business lending for franchises; Lend Academy talks with ApplePie Capital CEO Denise Thomas in their podcast; the podcast provides in-depth details on platform loan terms for franchisees; Denise Thomas also gives insight into the small business franchise market and talks about recent capital investments for the platform. Source
The Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index shows another increase in small business approval rates at traditional banks in January with big banks approving a new high of 24% of small business loans; Biz2Credit CEO Rohit Arora attributes the increase to optimism over the Trump administration's regulatory initiatives for financial services; loan approval rates at small banks were basically unchanged at 48.9%; the loan approval rate for institutional lenders remained at 63.4%; loan approval rates at credit unions decreased to 40.8%; loan approval rates decreased for alternative lenders, with the average approval rate at 58.5%. Source